SHIPPING BOOM ENDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 24, 28 January 1921, Page 5

SHIPPING BOOM ENDS.

OWNERS FEAR FUTURE,

CANT PAY THE WAGES. MORE PROF-TABLE TO TIE TTP. (By Cable.—Press Association.—CoDyrlj-hi_) (Received 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 27. j Lord Inchcapc, chairman of the P. and ; 0., in a letter to the "Times," referring j to the difficulties facing shipowners as a. result of the Stewards' Union's demand.*. | says the owners may be forced next ! season to terminate the passenger ser- ' vices to Continental ports, as the in- - creased accommodation demanded by the stewards would necessitate the giving up of the passenger accommodation, this : again resulting in increased fares. He : points out that ships are being laid up ' all over the world, ports are congested . everywhere, ajid thousands of officers and ; seamen are unemployed, yet a eommU- I i sion is sitting in Brussels to consider the advisability of limiting employment to) eight hours daily. Before the war the 1 'wages of s.tewards were £3 10/ a month, now they are £13 15/. This did not! matter much during the war. when ships : were chartered by the Government and ; the wages charge was against the State. Now wages must be paid out of the earnings of vessels, and the earnings will not pay them. The thieving that goes on at sea and in the docks is beyond anything known in history. "As things are." lie concludes, "we would l«c in pocket by discharging all lour men and laying up our ship- in charge of a 70-year-old caretaker and a few aged charwomen. The end will 'come, and we shall get hack to a sound eoonoraic working basis, though the time may not be quite yet.- ("Times"i i 1 PLETHORA OF SHIPS. . Rec,-i-,-e,l tl.an „.m , LONDON, January 27. i The I Jyde shipbuilders declare that the high cost of production is not the only factor in the shipbuilding slump. Tlie sale of 400 German shins by the | Government had also helped to kill new ! shipping business. Not a single new j order had been received for 1921. Shipbuilders are submitting to the Governmet that the 300,000 tons of shipping j still due from Germany is not wanted |in Great Britain.—(Renter I